Andrea’s 2014 Trip to Japan
A couple of months ago, I took a trip to Japan with my grandson, Elias Todd. From his base in NC, we traveled thirty hours to our first hotel in Kagoshima, Kyushu. It was his first venture into a country he’s only heard about, but with his intensive training in Pokemon and the ninja world, he had some preparation. And it was a first for me, too: a trip to Japan with no need to hunt for either textiles or textile knowledge.
Luckily, Elias is an artist. We did castle, volcano, ferry rides, contemporary art, history museum, robots , aquarium, gardens and lots of climbing.
While in Kyushu, we chanced on a textile waste company I had visited twenty years earlier- everyone very happy and surprised by the reunion. They introduced me to Takeo Yoshioka, a collector of indigo textiles and rice culture, who lives in the house of his great grandfather, deep in the countryside.
As the trip extended I realized that it’s hard not to see fiber and textiles in this country; they are still one of the most basic elements of daily life. A visit to an old farm in Gunma took us into a house where silk was the product.
Even the very sophisticated 21/21 Design Sight showed us fiber in their ode to Rice Culture.♥